WWII Tech Pubs Briefing

Written by
Michael Hyde

A Curtiss Hawk H75A-2 of the 1ere Escadrille, of GC II/5 intercepting a Heinkel He 111 during the first days of the German attack on France, May 1940.

[ Top of Page | Feedback ]

Overview

Curtiss-Wright started work on a private-venture development of a single-seat fighter, the Curtiss Design 75, in November 1934 (the same year as the Bf 109, the Hurricane, and Spitfire).  The low-wing, all-metal monoplane originally accepted a 900-hp (671-kW) Wright XR-1670-5 radial engine.  In April 1936, the Design 75 competed unsuccessfully against the Severesky P-35 to replace the US Army Air Corp’s (USAAC) Boeing P-26 Peashooter pursuit fighter.

The Design 75’s innovative main landing gear rotated through 90° as it retracted to lay flush in the relatively thin wing section.  Other features included fabric-covered control surfaces, an enclosed cockpit, hydraulic split-flaps, monocoque fuselage construction, and a wing built in two halves to be joined at the centerline.  Combat-wise, the airplane sported two .30-cal (7.62-mm) machine guns in the top engine cowl but carried neither pilot armor nor self-sealing fuel tanks.

Having lost the USAAC contract (at least until war would loom), Curtiss-Wright in 1937 developed a prototype export model to meet the demand for modern combat aircraft throughout the world.  This aircraft, which the company designated Model 75H but marketed as the “Hawk 75”, came with fixed landing gear with spats, a variable armament load-outs, bomb racks, and a 875-hp (653-kW) Wright GR-1820-G3 Cyclone engine.  Two demonstrators were built. 

An upgraded version, the Hawk H75A, later became the main export model.  It offered retractable landing gear and four machine guns: a .50-cal (12.7-mm) and a .30-cal (7.62-mm) in the nose and a .30-cal (7.62-mm) in each wing.  While weakly armed by contemporary European standards and relatively slow, the Hawk 75A was a maneuverable airplane of very rugged construction.  France ordered 1,130 Hawk H75A-1s through A-4s, although 511 were not manufactured due to that country’s surrender.  At least 91 further Hawk H75As of various models were built to order for other countries, the designations finally reaching A-9.

French Hawk 75A-3s were fitted with the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine and were modified by the installation of six 7.5-mm (0.295-in) FN Browning machine guns, metric instruments, a Munerelle oxygen supply, seats that would accomodate the French Lemercier parachute, a Radio-Industrie 537 radio, a Baille-Lemaire gunsight, and reversed throttle controls.  All French Hawks were numbered starting at No. 1 for the first H75A-1, moving to No. 101 for the first 75A-2, and continuing with No. 201 for the first 75A-3.

Of the 135 Hawk 75A-3s France ordered, most were delivered and operated beside the earlier A-1s and A-2s.  Some went to French Morocco, and Britain received more than 20 after the fall of France.  The Hawks were slower and less effectively armed than the Bf 109E, although their pilots liked their maneuverability and ruggedness.  They were able to take considerable punishment in battle and still return home.

On the first day of the attack on France, Groupe de Chasse (fighter squadron; GC) I/5 shot down eight Dornier Do 17s from KG 3 and GC II/5 shot down three Heinkel He 111s of I./KG 53.  Between May 10 and June 24, 1940, the Groupes de Chasse that operated Hawks claimed 230 confirmed and 81 probable kills.  These units performed much better than other French fighter units in May and June, at least in part because they also had been assigned France’s elite pilots.  Because of the Hawks’ good performance and because replacement aircraft were readily available during the fighting, all Hawk 75 units remained at nearly full strength until the Armistice was signed.

[ Top of Page | Feedback ]

Specifications

Figures are for Curtiss Hawk H75A-3 model.

[ Top of Page | Feedback ]